When the Chicago Fire selected University of Louisville centerback Austin Berry with their
first-round pick in January's SuperDraft, they hoped they were getting a player who could come in
and contribute immediately. While injuries across the Fire back line may have accelerated his
growth curve, Berry has certainly proved that he was ready for the rigors of MLS all along.

FC Delco product Ben Olsen never fulfilled the lofty expectations some had for the former NCAA
player of the year and MLS rookie of the year. But now he has another chance, as a coach. Can the
Pennsylvania native reclaim a role as a face of U.S. soccer? A new PSP contributor -- and longtime
D.C. United fan -- takes a look.

A little past the midway point of the season, IMS gives you a list of the top rookies in the
league to keep your eye on. Not only for possible NASL Rookie of the Year honors but as top
prospects to move on to MLS or other leagues above Division II. # 1) Mark Anderson [...]

If the MLS season were to end today, few could argue that New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Ryan
Meara has been the top rookie of the 2012 class.

Meara has performed consistently well through the first half of his first year as a
professional, avoiding the type of blunders that are associated with young goalkeepers while
playing every minute for a Red Bulls team fighting for first place in the Eastern Conference.

00:41 - A high kick by Raymon Gaddis to Joao Plata's face puts the young Ecuadorian forward on
the ground. Toronto charges forward with the advantage and Reggie Lambe gets a shot on goal that is
saved well by Chris Konopka. Lambe gets a second chance on the rebound, but puts it straight across
the goal mouth.

The New York Red Bulls goalkeeper continued his string of strong performances for the club in a
2-1 win over the Montreal Impact on Saturday, and his five-save performance in that game earned him
SBI MLS Rookie of the Week honors for a third consecutive week.

Last Wednesday's game against DC United reinforced a point that many Fire fans have come to the
conclusion of: it's time for Dan Gargan to be re-inserted into the starting XI. Although the team
as a whole had an off game against DC, Jalil Anibaba was especially deficient at the RB position.
He had a large share of the blame on a couple of DC's goals, and ever since moving to RB to make
room for Austin Berry in the starting lineup, he has struggled to be honest.

Nick DeLeon's campaign for Rookie of the Year took another step in the right direction this past
weekend, with the D.C. United midfielder putting together a solid outing in the club's lopsided win
over FC Dallas.

That won DeLeon the SBI MLS Rookie of the Week award, as his game-winning goal gave United their
first win of the season, a 4-1 triumph over FC Dallas at RFK Stadium on Friday.

As I touched upon in an article on Saturday, Freddy Adu has not lived up to his role as a
playmaking winger enough this year. A few games, specifically his pre-second yellow card play
against the New York Red Bulls, have shown that he has the mindset and ability to properly adjust
to the role he thrust himself into this offseason, but Adu has disappointed routinely out of a high
spot in the Philadelphia Union's offense.

Friendly matches are not usually a barometer for judgment when reflecting on regular season
play, but one New York Red Bulls player put an impressive exclamation point after weeks of dominant
performances by stoning Tottenham in Tuesday's 2-1 defeat to the Premiership club.

From the season opener to the present day, the Red Bulls have been steadily fighting (and
overcoming) injuries all year long.Â Saturday's match against the Union continued that trend as
comeback player Brandon Barklage fell with a hamstring injury despite New York's victory.

Reading United AC's Deshorn Brown Named League MVP Finalist, Loses to Sullivan Silva
After being named to both the 2012 PDL All-League and Eastern Conference squads earlier in the
week, the end of the season honors for the Reading United AC's Deshorn Brown kept on coming. The
PDL named Brown as one of the league's Most Valuable Player finalists along with Thunder Bay's
Sullivan Silva, and Mark Sherrod of Portland.

Portland Timbers U23s Forward Mark Sherrod, a redshirt Junior at the University of Memphis, has
been named a finalist for PDL Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year.

The awards for Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Defender of the Year, Goalkeeper of the
Year and Coach of the Year will be presented at Saturday's awards ceremony at the 2012 PDL
Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina.

With today's Summer transfer window closing the Seattle Sounders made two moves to dramatically
shift their "Ideal XI." With Alvaro Fernandez heading to the Chicago Fire for allocation money and
the newly official signing of Christian Tiffert as the team's sixth Designated Player the full
impact won't be felt for a few weeks.

Another game at Starfire, another rousing victory. Yes, as bad as the last few weeks have been,
the Sounders seem to have found their health and form, and sit a game away from being the first
team ever to four-peat the Open Cup. The Sounders will now face Sporting Kansas City in August, but
leave it to the ECS to try to turn it into a pseudo home game by aggressively promoting travel
opportunities for the game.

The Rest

When Carlos Tevez took his unapproved mid-seasonÂ sabbaticalÂ from Man City last season, he
spent his time playing golf. He even won a pro-am tournament with fellow Argentine and 2008 PGA
Tour Rookie of the Year Andres Romero. And after spending all that quality time together, the two
seem to have formed a friendship because for the final round of the 2012 British Open, Romero let
Tevez serve as his caddy.

Anthony Davis will be the first pick in the 2012 NBA Draft by the New Orleans Hornets. We all
know he's a highly talented player who will likely win the NBA Rookie of the Year. However, how
will Anthony Davis do in fantasy basketball?

How do you play starting swingman/small forward on the best team in the NBA and not get more
consideration for Rookie of the Year? The vote for this year's ROY proves it's just a political
exercise to try and make stars.

Two point guards were ahead of Kawhi Leonard, Ricky Rubio of Minnesota got second place and Kyrie
Irving of Cleveland won the award.

Monday's first preseason friendly was an unqualified success both on and off the field. If
tonight's game is going to match it it's going to have a little more competition off the field, as
it's also the home opener for the Mariners. But people are already filing in an hour before and it
looks to me like if tonight doesn't match Monday's crowd, it'll be close.